Last on my MUST-do list regarding beading was a blue/aqua gift. I made a key chain too cause I had the clasp and you can hook it to whatever.{The Eiffel Tower is there cause it’s sort of a private joke; see we have a town called Parys, that’s Afrikaans for Paris. So it’s not such a biggie when you say that you are shopping in Paris 😉 }

I love the hand made charm and got a whole bunch of them. There’s supposed to be a coffee cup there too, but with so many doodahs, it’s probably hiding behind some. I added 2 ribbons this time – I like adding it as it seems to soften the whole metal look.

I’ll try and get this mailed over the weekend. Hope my friend likes it!

I made a keychain the other day – it’s super chunky and full of little charms for my cousin to find. She’s having their first baby, also a little girl, and I wanted to make something especially for her new Mommy – people tend to focus so much on the new baby, that mommy sometimes feels a little neglected s’true.

Some of the charms I’ve put on are a kitty, cute shorts, made with love, strawberry, made for an angel, coffee cup, swirly, love and laugh cameo’s and lots of beads and dangly bits. Hope she like it 😀

I got her some goodies for baby too, like receiving blanket, baby-gro’s (some call them onesies… I think), Fissan Paste bum cream (that I SWEAR by), petroleum jelly, some cute hair bands, and the infamous Jungle Juice recipe. Getting all broody just making up this care package! I want to get maybe 1 or 2 more things, then I’ll mail it.

Funny how I got into this. I honestly wanted to learn to crochet – so that I can make a bag from plarn using my collection of colourful department store bags. My mom even got me a size J crochet hook (it’s a huge size 10)

I went to our local craft supplier shop – Lé Mar Arts & Crafts – my domestic worker was ill, so I took her to the doctor, and since it was right around the corner, I popped in quick-quick.

The owner was busy unpacking some bookmarks she had made. I was charmed – right there I decided that I want to make my own. I went back that afternoon to raid the shelves.

There was a variety of bookmark bases: from long weird looking arms, dolphins, feather type design with paisley – I liked the mermaids: 2 in a packet for R20. This makes the base that you place inside the book; Then you add whatever you want to the ring. I wanted to take a look at her original ones for some inspiration – but they were all sold out by then 😮 So I used one of the key chain/handbag charms as a guide.

The owner’s daughter was doing the afternoon shift that day; I asked her how to do a few things, like attaching a bead to the chain {i had no idea ok}, how do attach a ribbon to the chain – without the obvious ‘make a knot’ option.

After Amelia went to bed and the one-pot-meal was simmering {did I mention that I am not fond of cooking}, I started beading {more jewelry making technique though}. I black one is for me {surprise it’s not orange!}. The pink one is for a special lady who’s birthday is coming up soon. I made them chunky, cause that’s what I like. There is also a lot of little ‘hidden’ charms that you might not see at first glance – that’s the whole idea. I wanted it to be that everytime you look at it, you see something you missed the last time.